Great Cars: SAAB
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- čas přidán 25. 10. 2017
- Saab has created many supreme automotive designs. But Saab marches to its own tune. And breaking from tradition has enhanced Saab's appeal. Saab's independence can be traced to its precarious development on the wings of Sweden's post-war aviation industry. Its engineers and designers gambled on their ability to transform their aviation experience into automobile manufacturing. Today, their efforts are admired worldwide. But Saab's transformation from wings to wheels has been a long and difficult journey.
EP 205 - Auta a dopravní prostředky
I can't believe SAAB is gone out of business. They made such beautiful, well-built cars.
Unless I missed it, the narrator failed to mention the fast Viggen. I have a 2000 Silver Viggen Convertable with only 79,000 miles. Its an attention getter and a surprisingly fast sleeper.
Take my money :)
Also said the 9000 was the first four door ! ?
@@greniepage5775 I'm glad you said something. I thought I misunderstood although it was clearly stated. Funny, my '76 99 sure seemed to have 4 doors... There were a few bits of misinformation here, but SAAB vids are always welcome in my world ;)
I still miss my '66 96, last of the 3 cylinders. Loved the sound of that engine. The cloth sunroof opened from the windshield all the way back to just in front of the rear windrow -- didn't need A/C. Had a lot of fun in that car.
i am geting my '62 96 in 5 days acually. Have not heard one signle bad thing about it from drivers i know. All loved the two stroke even if they forgot to put in oil and hade to change the engine
no child I had a Matchbox SAAB Sonnet III, when I got my driver's license my first car was that very car.... great memories
I have a 2004 9-3 Arc cabriolet. 'Laser Red', 5-speed. 92k miles. Bought it super cheap this past summer because some 'Saab specialist' shop had a stripped out spark plug hole. Heli-coiled it, and it has been running great ever since. Solid car, and pretty quick with a 210 horsepower turbo motor. Gets a lot of attention! It has a few quirky problems...like an alarm that will randomly go off even if it's not armed or if you are driving...and power mirrors that have a mind of their own...but it is a very fun car.
Nothing beats driving a convertible on a warm summer day with an iced coffee in the cup holder and a baseball game on the radio. Well, ALMOST nothing. I was sad to see Saab go.
heh heh. heh heh.
That's Awesome!
Saabs Rock!
So sad. Bring back SAAB!
Market research and focus groups inspire modern cars . Saab’s were unique, unconventional ,down right unusual. They were not born out of popular opinion. I long for a modern car as distinctive as a Saab.
kia soul, fiat 500 ,mini coup
Yeah, well, 'government' has seen to that, haven't they?
As a child I can remember Erik Carlson driving in the old RAC rally of GB and no one could understand how he could drive his car so fast and beat more powerful opposition, some times by quite some margin. Then the press found out about his left foot braking driving style which was not to change gear faster but so he could keep his foot pressed on the throttle pedal 99% of the time, he said if he took his foot off the throltle it would take 1/2 mile to get back up to full speed, hence the birth of left foot braking. At that time no one could drive a Saab as fast as Erik but his speed also brought about some high speed crashes which earned him the nick name of Erik 'on the roof' Carlson.
I still own a Saab 9-5 Griffin 3.0L V6 turbo saloon, an amazing long distance touring car. I would love to get hold of an old 96 saloon.
True.. but the way you write it, makes it sound wrong. Carlsson på taket - Carlsson on the roof. Swedish commentators, well Scandinavian in general, has a reputation of high enthusiasm... which makes following the races good fun.
Not to offend, but the other way around makes it sound like a gimmick or novelty character, f.ex like Eric "the eel" Moussambani.
@@mortenfrosthansen84 That is the way it would be said in the English language, we structure sentenses in a slightly different way than most European languages, so it sounds right for us.
I loved Saab I am still crying that they don’t make cars anymore
i enjoy my saab 95 3.0 turbo V6 every day , just changed the turbo. i love my car , even its 19 years old ....
The obvious question about Saab's.. how is the reliability of yours?
The rights for Saab were bought by a Chinese company, and has been re-branded as an EV with the name of NEVS. Take a look at them, because the 9-3 live on!
Would you say you're... ~saabing~ ???
GMC should just stick to their guns and not fidle with everything they can grap at
Many years ago I owned a 1974 Sabb Sonnet III, it had the 1.7 litre Ford V4 engine and was a blast to drive! I miss my old Saab!
Still have my 1973 Sonnet III.
He didn't elaborate on the V4's output. Can you help us out?
My 74 Sonnet was only rated at 65 hp but was still a ball to drive.
it's not a ford engine bro.. it's a Saab V4 cast iron block with cast iron sleeves... sorta built in.. very good design, strong and dependable... my first job as a mechanic was at the Saab dealership in Oceanside, California... it's one of those old man type cars that one appreciates more as I approach old... hasn't happened yet... no worries
A lot of sources say otherwise.
Bought a 2004 9-3 with 72000 miles for my grandson for 4500. The car is show room clean. I took it to the mechanic and he told me its the cleanest SAAB he had seen. Not a drop of oil leak. Starts and runs perfectly. Its solid and its so fun to drive. I asked my grandson whether he wanted another car if he didn't like this one. I just keep it for myself. He smiled and told me to give him the keys. Drive the car normally and maintain it normally. Its one of those cars that pay for itself many many times. Oh, by the way thanks GM for your contribution. Now go make a bicycle if you can.
I had a Sonett that would do 286 mph but you had to drop it from a very high altitude. Working on them is great! Replace a fuel pump 20 minutes tops and the motor and trans less than half a day.
So I'm gyessing it only reached that speed once then?
Best LOL
As a matter of fact GM ruined SAAB. They changed it into a kind of a second class Opel. Everything which was typical for SAAB got lost, e.g. the doors which included parts of the floor unit for an easy access to the seats, the ignition lock on the floor unit, the reverse gear being blocked instead of the steering wheel lock and, of course, the excellent, lightweight turbo charged engines. There were so many absolutely genious solutions, diffenent approaches how to build a car. SAAB buyers chose SAAB because it was special. With the recent SAAB models there was nothing special at all any more.
Ford brought VOLVO, Jag, and Aston Marten into profitability with up to date production. GM took a distinctive automobile manufacture named SAAB and gave them a dated Opel floor plan and miss-management,.
Bob lutz GM was a terrible disaster
@@unggrabb And they still are. Worldwide, Ford is a far superior company.
@@aus80srockradio94 superior to GM but far far far below BMW, Porsche, Audi, Mercedes, Skoda, Volvo and the Japanese offerngs.
That's because Ford has Engineers and Accountants, and GM Only has Accountants and not very good ones at that.
@@edim108 True that.
I bought my 1978 EMS brand new. It was both an amazing car and as most Saab owners will attest full of Saab stories. I published a monthly paper called the "Independent Saab Review" in 1979. I asked owners to send in their "Saab Stories" which mixed with the "Swedish Meatball" section was a total success. It was a car that I loved to hate. Anyone remember having the key tumbler coming out wrapped around the key when you turned it off? On the flip side, Alfa Romero was our sworn enemy as we could keep up and out corner them.
In 1973 I bought a Saab 99LE. It was a great car. I owned it for over five years and put over 150,000 miles on it. At that time I lived about 25 miles from where I worked. My dad bought a Ford Galaxy 500 at the same time and my mom bought a Ford Pinto. My Saab cost about $200.00 more than the Galaxy, had far more interior room and was about the same size than my mom's Pinto. Back then Saab built great cars but they went downhill fast when they sold out to GM. GM ruined them.
This were GM in his best, as always! The SAAB brand was an iconic swedish aircraft and car maker! A brand always concerned about aerodinamics, safety and performance in his cars. The cars were fantastic,sporty and reliables,well when GM came, they have done what they knew better... Thank you King Rose Archives,stay safe!
We can blame GM for Saab’s woes, but Saab created it’s own problems before GM bailed them out. If they sold enough cars profitably they would not have needed GM.
The newer Saab 9-3 station wagon's was one of the best looking cars. If only other car manufacturers would take a new look at that rear end.
I had a beautiful 1976 Saab EMS in Silver with custom leather dash, gauge cluster, door panels, cassette player enclosure, and shift knob (Crafted by yours truly). The thick stock leather steering wheel sealed the deal for me.
The leather in a Saab is bullet proof . I have a 2000 Saab 93 and I love it
Love SAAB's. I've owned a 9-3 for over four years now, and it has been trouble free in all that time. Keep them regularly maintained, and they will serve you well.
If I replace my 9-3, my next car will be the last generation 9-5, SAAB's most beautiful car imo.
Such a shame that GM decided to pull the plug on SAAB. But from what I am led to believe, GM wanted to compromise the quality of the cars, but SAAB refused to let there high standards of quality and engineering slip. GM wanted to sell SAAB's to the masses more cheaply, but SAAB was never a mass market marque. SAAB buyers were more discerning, and were prepared to pay more for SAAB innovation and build quality. But that wasn't what GM wanted. THEY wanted SAAB to be a brand with a limited shelf life, to coincide with the rest of GM's offerings.
9-3 is opel so you never owned a saab
Driving my 2004 Saab 9-3 daily. Happy times.
Bought a '96 SAAB 900S in 2010 with high km's as for temp. use. Thought it was a great vehicle for such a depressed purchase price so I replaced my other family vehicle with a newer 2004 9-3 Vector that had only 70K km's at purchase. I still drive this today which now has 195k km's and have no plans to sell it, but did upgrade suspension with Bilstein B6 shocks as the old struts began to wear out. It's been the best car I've owned (most km's driven also) though I would have liked the more powerful 210 hp version of the engine.
My daughter bought a 2001 Viggen with 145k miles on it and my other daughter drives a '97 SAAB 900S that has about 340k km's on it. ( now a Saab family)
I've replaced both handbrake cables on the Viggen and 900S which seems to be a difficult routing.
My 9-3 Vector is the more luxurious of the bunch and seems to require the least maintenance. (I do my own)
The Viggen is a hoot to drive and my only concern is the dreaded sludge issue. Regular oil changes with Mobil 1 Synthetic and all seems well... touch wood.
From my perspective the newer 9-3 is a better design as the turbo at back of the engine routes exhaust heat away from the oil pan. Reliability has been excellent. Only changed out the engine temperature sender, plugs (once) and brakes as required.
On the older Viggen and 900S, heat can fry wiring insulation to the radiator cooling fans. This has been fixed by disassembling and some judicious use of electrical tape.
We love our Saabs and I hope to keep driving my 9-3 till an electric vehicle becomes a reality for me as other European Marques seem a tad over priced and too problematic.
So for me, our Saabs are very much alive.
My old 9000 I had a few years back felt surprisingly up to date. And excelled in every single aspect. To me it must be among the best cars ever made for its time. Can't come up with one that can compete in all important aspects at once. It was fast and safe, while spacious, practical and economical.
Could easily get 6.5l/100km (36MPG) on long trips with a record of 5.4L/100km (43 MPG) with it loaded. Admittedly eco-driving at ~70Km/h. Not bad for 200 HP 2.3L.
Its performance, comfort and space made it shine on long trips in a way no other car ever has to a tall person like me. Drove 1600 km with only short breaks for fuel, energy drinks and calories. Got there fast, comfortably and with hardly any bodily fatigue.
Cargo swallowed quite a sizeable table, four chairs and a bunch of large boxes. My 9-3 SC can't even fit the table, or all of the boxes.
Well, it lacked two things, corrosion resistance and gearbox durability. With a reinforced gearbox and less corrosive prone fenders I would still drive it today.
Too bad the overly american imbecilles at GM killed the company so efficiently with their american logic and mysterious ways. They blamed economics, while SAAB payed 4000€ for the same engine Opel payed 400€ for. And while smallish SAAB developed the Cadillac BLS for free which is a huge expense for such a small company.
At the same time GM didn't get that it wasn't the label that made it well engineered, qualitative and luxurious. If you put to much Opel in it it will be Opel, which is as close to a german version of french cars you'll get. It will of course be expensive for SAAB to reengineer it to be SAAB:ish enough to sell.
And that SAAB development was deliberately held back to give Opel a head start with new models is retarded. And how the brainfart to rebrand a Trailblazer to a SAAB came to be is a mystery to any cognitive creature. The Subaru Impreza - SAAB 9-2X rebrand is somehow an insult to both companies.
GM and by extension Detroit is the epitome of the american stagnation and degeneracy.
I love my SAAB 9-5 from 1998
Jay Leno is a SAAB fan and bought a 1958 SAAB 93 which he displayed in "Jay Leno's Garage". For a 1950's vintage 2 door sedan this little economy car was very impressive.
I daily drive a 2007 Saab 9-5 wagon and a 2017 Volvo S90, I must say I kinda like the Saab more, it's so comfortable
What a shame this company is gone.
My son recently bought a 1968 saab 95 and it’s a cute fun to drive little car
Those 50s and 60s SAABs are really unique and beautiful designs. There's a touch sports car in all of em.
King Rose, your documentaries are exemplary in every way. Particularly the pace and thoughtful writing within. Thank you!
Thank you so very much. Much appreciated.
boy i sure do miss this TV car show...love the intro and music and narrator, on another note...dennis gage with my classic car show went on for now running 22 seasons now (2018) wish this show GREAT CARS survived that long. i got on my classic car tv show back in 2016 (season 21) same year SAAB died
Thanks. We miss producing it. It was a lot of fun.
I've been watching my classic car since I was in HS and I'm now almost 40
I loved those SAAB's.
I was always taken with Saab but never bought one ..... The friends who had one said they loved it when it was running properly ...
I had a 93 turbo,it did 138,000 trouble free miles when I sold it.
We had a 9-5 griffin in the family but dad sold it 10 years ago. Now I'm earning money and just got me a 98' 9-5 turbo :-)
They also produced a 9-3 Viggen. Unfortunately that model where overpowered compared to the drive train, chassis and suspension. You just couldn't get the power to the asphalt. Pitty, it where a cool concept.
Saabs are really nice, I currently own a 2000 9-5 aero and it's great!
No mention about 99 ems, electronic fuel injection in the 70s was pretty important and modern
Had a Saab 900S too.... what a beast. Once you got that heavy bastard rolling nothing could touch you. Handling, braking, reliability was awesome. Once GM took them over it all went to shit... Saab's were rolling piles of Monkey crap when GM held the keys to them. ....
Thats not true. SAAB continued to produce good quality cars til the end, much to GM's disdain. And SAAB continued to spend more on R&D, engineering, and innovation than GM wanted them to. And that is why GM pulled the plug, because SAAB refused to compromise.
The amount of high mileage, late model 9-3's and 9-5's still running is testament to SAAB's refusal to buckle under pressure from GM.
that might be true but they also wasted a lot of money that could been used for more needed fields in the R&D.
one of the worst examples is that GM had lots of usable media players that could do exactly what Saab wanted but instead of using em they developed their own ones from scratch for use in the 9-3 and 9-5 making each unit with the R&D involved cost over 55000 SEK each.
ofc they did not add that to the price so in reality they where sold with loss... how much? 50000 SEK in loss per unit.
they where not bad cars in the GM era, just outdated and lightly overpriced.
@@hermanmunster3358 I don't think the Swedes can build anything. Volvo is a piece of crap too. The old ones were a complete joke.
@@alext9067 oh yeah then u suck too
@@alext9067 Nonsense. The 544 was a surprisingly good handler and the 122S, too. Excellent gearboxes, too, but tractor-like engines and heavy solid rear axles with bad unsprung weight ratios, just like most American cars.
And as for the Swedese not building anything, I guess you have no knowledge of the innovative and effective SAAB jets with their canard wings and semi-supine pilots seats enabling much higher G-tolerance than the sophisticated (in the real sense-look it up) American designs
My dad had a V4 9-5 wagon, which my brother took later. He contracted food poisoning, and we transported him laying down in the back from one hospital to another. I was too young to drive it - wish I had.
I had two 4-stroke, V6, 96’s back in the 1980’s. The first one was a CONVERSION to a V6 (originally a 2-stroke). Both were great cars!
1967 onwards 96's were never sold new with a V6, you are very mistaken. They were V4's made with Ford of Germany's Cologne engine. You could put a ford Capri V6 in one, but it made their V4's, gas hungry, bad handling wastes of effort. I owned a '62 bullnose sedan, a '65 95 wagon, a '69 99 and a '71 96.
I owned a 1971 Saab 96 and I loved it. It was an affordable car. In my opinion, Saab's biggest mistake was with the 99's which became high-priced and out of the reach of most middle-class customers.
SAAB Viggen Bad ass evolution of the original 99
Remember reading a ways back, probably in the early 1990s, that over half of Saab's US sales came from just two metropolitan areas, Minneapolis -St. Paul and Seattle, the two most Swedish US cities.
No more SAAB cars...but there making one of the best strike fighter jets ever put into the air!!
This video must be old because Saab has not made cars in a while now. My brother who always liked the different had a Saab and it was a very good car. Odd is a good word to put it but a good car and unfortunately many people were not into Saab which made it hard to stay in business. Volvo still exist because that was a more standard car but I miss Saab and would like to see it come back.
i have a Saab 95 Aero sportcombi
Beautiful!!
SAAB as a car company is now gone.. Never had one but I wanted one as a kid..
Only this brand teaches me about: 2-Wheel driving, The Snake, Zig-Zag, Meeting, Spins in 180 or 360
Love my OG9-3 Saab
I own a 1969 96, but man would I love a 95
The 9000 CD from 1988 (MY89) was not the first 4-door car that Saab produced -- both the 900 and the 99 before it came in 4-door versions.
Anders Helde right the 9000 was the first 4 door sports car and first transverse engines.. Then the 93 used same principle
Anders Helde the 99 and 900 weren't sports sedans they were stealthy saloons
The shape of the Saab 99 obviously was based on the plane we see at 3:49
One of my college professors had the Sonnet. Interesting car. Those were indeed the days. Very sad to see every manufacturer doing look-alike SUVS nowadays.
Outside of Sweden it was always mostly the college professors and engineers that drove them. Well, in Sweden too of course, but in Sweden others drive them aswell.
vw please bring back saab
Ford turned his attention to Volvo. Lucky
GM turned his attention to SAAB. Rip
Peppermint ford destroyed Land Rover, Jaguar, and Volvo..
@@aricsnyder5882, Land Rover destroyed itself with ease.
they where good in 1960, but 1960 reliability in 2000 does not work.
Land Rover is by far the most unreliable car-brand that rolls in Europe... though they are quite fun in the terrain, if they work.
when it comes to Jaguar and Volvo i totally agrees, they got too Ford-ified...
Jaguar X-type the best example there, it's basically a rebadged Ford Mondeo.
Mazda also got hit hard by this in the 2000's as they had a co-operation deal with Ford and got by that forced over the the Russian steel-deal Ford managed to get.
so there you know why the first gen of Mazda 3 and 6 rust so badly and you need a extra set with spanners in inch'es to fix the rear brakes while everything else is mm...
(but also why more or less every Ford in D-seg and smaller was based on an Mazda platform and used an Mazda engine)
but Ford didn't own the majority of the shares in Mazda so they told em to "fu.. off" when they tried to force em over on an Volvo platform and using the Ford\Volvo 3 cylinder engines.
Not mentioned:
9-2X
9-3X
9-4X
9-7X
This came out in the late 90's early 2000's. And those cars came around after this had been filmed
I LIKE IT
Loved my Saab 9-3 convertible gorgeous just the insurance that was to much
CAMPBELL NUTTING Why? It's a safe car, presumably going the speed limit.
No one can deny the toughness of those early Saab's.....it's too bad GM bankrupted Saab, they completely ruined that company.....
Branon Fontaine SAAB bankrupted themselves.. Or GM would never had to bail out a company that was flat on their face
@@aricsnyder5882 Not sure what you're getting at here. Yes, Saab would likely not have survived as long as it did without any investors. But the fact remains that GM mismanaged Saab to an unbelievable extent. They showed very clearly that they didn't understand the Saab brand, nor did they seem to understand how to build a prestige brand.
If they did, they would NEVER have asked Saab to share anything with Opel. Nor would they have stopped Saab from building a broader model range and then compounded the problem more by replacing the 9000 with a car with virtually identical characteristics of the second gen 9-3. And the OG 9-5 would NEVER had continued production for so long as it did. In fact, the fact that Saab were able to sell the same model for so long was a testament to the strength of the brand.
If they SERIOUSLY wanted Saab to compete with European luxury brands, Saab should've been given free reins to build all the bespoke platforms they needed. And if they would've had to share a platform with any other brand, it would've been Subaru.
A brand with such a sporty history as Saab should've received optional 4WD on all models ASAP. And the GM-Lotus deal should naturally have resulted in a Sonett, not an Opel. The Opel GT is proof that the GM management was a bunch of stupid chimps, because while Saab concept cars had garnered interest from motoring press and buyers alike, GM decided to let Opel make a two-seater RWD sports car AGAIN, even though the Speedster less than a decade before had become such a disaster that even with massive discounts, there were still Speedsters to buy five years after production ceased. Because who on god's green earth who likes cars would buy an Opel?
Ah " another Saab story "
I always wanted a Saab. Wish they weren't gone. I think GM dropped the ball on Saab.
R.I.P. :(
Actually Ford did not buy Volvo untill 1999 :)
Also the Saab 99 was also made as a 4 door sedan.
fontheking5 and a 99 4 door turbo
Yep, there are quite a few mistakes in this video🙁
In summer 87 I went to a used lot and ogled a green 74 sonnet five times over two months.
Think of the money saved.
The 9000 was not the first 4 door Saab, the 900 was also offered as a four door.
SAAB Had a great opportunity to enter the EV era..But the rightist government refused to support it, while USA gave huge help to it's industry
12:59 1973 Sonett 3
like the introduction music , any now it ?
Another Saab story.
Huh, a few seconds in and I had to say I realized I have not seen a Saab on the road in some time. Discovered they are out of the car biz since 2012, wow..
John Palermo True, this must be an old program. Saab has been gone for some time.
R.I.P.
I drove only Saabs, but sold my 93; decided to bypass Beamers, and nosedived into VW in search of excitement. I found it: The Jetta GLI, and the Touareq. I'd still like a Saab purely for nastolgic and deficits of handling dangling in obscurity - a manual of course, 900 SE Turbo 2-door, naturally, though not entirely a Saab.. I strongly believe VW could make Saab a VW Saab, if it were .. dreams might possibly come true for all of us still in search of (pardon) - Fahrvernügen.
Except VW leadership are a lying bunch of criminals. VW also destroyed diesels in North America with their BS and greed. Even BMW will no longer be selling diesels in North America for the 2019 model year. Thanks VW!
Remember, Saab is famous for producing the 9-3 Viggen! That was the king of torque steer! They also had the 9-2X(from Subaru) and the 9-7X(a rebadged Trailblazer)! Saab is not around today because of mismanagement from General Motors!!!
i wishd id had some day 17 saabs and 5 opels
If I'm not mistaken Saab invented the turbo, the Saab turbo became the car to have in 1980s Ireland
Not quite right, Saab didn't invent the turbo, but they were the first car company to put a turbo into what could be described as a mass produced 4 door family car. Audi were some years away but Porsche and a couple of other high performance car makers had started to use them as well.
BMW 2002 turbo , was another example
16:30 looks like a Subaru SVX.
My dad owns a '96 9000 CD Saab
Got some issues to fix tho
Sadly they don't make Saabs anymore
If they made marvelous cars, why did they close?
Duesenberg closed, Bentley was bailed out, Bugatti went bankrupt, Armstrong Siddeley, Delahaye. Quality does not necessarily equal success.
@@evo5dave Studebaker and Packard as well.
I'm lucky owner of one
I remember being a kid and my friend got a saab we went to rebuild the motor and we opened the hood and i remember thinking here is your problem the engine is backward.
How this skipped over the 9000 aero I will never know.
I have a 06 saab 93 and i love it. I also have a 07 volvo cx90 which i also love.. I just hit my first deer ever.. and I'm so glad i was in the VOLVO. I don't know if i would have walked away if i was driving my saab.. F U GM, once again good old USA took something great and turned it into crap trying to make money and failed.. I'am so glad they didn't buy volvo..i might not still be alive..
SAAB's still hold up well in crash tests. You can still buy a SAAB with confidence. And because most of em have GM power plants and running gear, parts are easy to find, despite the myths. Body panels however, may not be so easy to source. So just look after them, and they will serve their owners well.
My 07 9-3 has given me no trouble at all in the four and a half years I've owned it, apart from routine maintenance and a new cam belt and water pump. And I've put 50k miles on it in that time.
@@hermanmunster3358 I have a SAAB MY 1998 9-5 for parts, a MY 1999 9-5 SE and a MY 2004 ARC. The '99 model is by far the better. There is much in the later model to show GM's negative influence but, with the hot turbo, it goes like a shower of sh*t! Just love my SAABs and am confident that they will stand up well in a collision. Have cleaned up a couple of kangaroos - one very large - and damage minimal and easily repaired.
@@andywilson3 Mine was an 07 plate 9-3, and I honestly couldn't fault it. It was ultra reliable, with the occasional CIM module niggle, and a back door that occasionally dead locked irself. I only part exed it because the 12 year old turbo was on its way out. But apart from those issues, it was the best car I've owned so far. And parts for GM era Saabs are still plentiful, so I would have another, later model without hesitation, providing it has been well maintained with a fsh, cam belt change, and receipts. I do like the older shape ,9-3's, but the ones that ARE still on the road tend to be well worn now, and rusty round the arches.
Well my saab 9-3 just broke down for the second time in 3 months
How old is it?
6:30 "Twice as many power strokes per revolution of the pistons"
There are NO revolutions of the pistons. The crankshaft rotates, piston movement is LINEAR
just one word GM...
For those of you unaware, though not mentioned in this video, Saab is now out of business. Regrettable for many reasons, but true.
They killed their own exciting brand, Pontiac, and they went out of their way to acquire and kill this one. I'll never own another GM. In fact, Zebra Corner is my favorite channel now.
10:41 Camera man on the hood.
Sorry but the SAAB 18b wasn't close to the worlds fastest twin engine bomber of its day.
they droppd the 3 cylinder 2 sroke and messed around with the Ford V-4 tractor motor, I worked on one back in the day that was turbo charged
SAAB's 2 stroke engines were produced from about 1946 through the mid-60s GM bought 50% of SAAB in 1999 and the rest in 2000. The Ford V4 may have been a tractor motor along the way but it was also a fire-pump motor for many years before SAAB started using them. I have 3 SAAB III coupes that range from 1971 to 1973, all V4 engines. They look like about a 2/3 size Corvette and handle quite well for their era... not so hot in a straight line but were pretty respectable on a crooked road. The headlights are mechanically raised and lowered by a shaft under the left side of the dash. That thing will scare the crap out of you when the lights pop up on their own at about 100 MPH!!! Wife brand new wife and I were on the way to our hotel, on our honey moon. It was about 120 miles away, much of the trip on rather crooked back roads but there was this 2 mile straight and I let it out and it ran just great until that thunderous BANG when the lights came up!! Nothing was damaged but it sure woke up my soundly snoozing brand new bride!
I asked her on the way home if she wanted to see the lights come up... she just gave me "That Look" and told me to behave. It didn't work then and it hasn't worked very well in the 40 years since that ride!! ;^)
They were not a tractor engine. Extremely oversquare engines never fare well as tractor engines. They were a very compact 1.5 and 1.7 liter V4 version of Ford's Capri's 2.6 and 2.8 liter V6, and they were quite successful in the Ford of Germany's Taunus model cars.
And now it's been 10 years since they have been out of business...
How could they not mention the SAABaru?
because it´s not a real Saab.....
Not a Saab
Neither was the standard 9-3 but they mentioned that one. It was built on the GM2900 platform and later the GM Epsilon platform.
The 9-3 is more of a Saab than a Subaru with a Saab grille
Same reason they don't mention the 600: not a Saab, and a huge flop
Hier´d Giuiaro or co work with FIAT.. for the 9000..
.... Viggen?
SAAB 17, 18, 21, 21R, Safir, 105, Tunnan, Lansen, Draken, Gripen, 340...
Lets start. Aviation build up.
I had 1977 99 LE. Amazing snow car. So tuff.
A 1979 900 4 door hatch back turbo with Inca rims
1984 900 2 door hatch turbo
1988 9000 CD
2008 93 sport combi.
All AMAZING cars. Best cars for the money. All drove like on rails, fast and kool as fuck.
Also Saab made 4 door cars way before 1988. So that is misleading...lol.
What they don't talk about was the high maintenance of these cars especially the turbo motors.
What the hell are you talking about? The turbo H motor is probably the lowest maintenance turbocharged engine of the 1980s and 90s. I've had 27 cars--11 of them turbocharged Saabs--and the Saab motors were always the most reliable, easy-to-work-on engines of any those cars. My current daily is a 1998 9000 with 340hp...it has 267,000 miles on the ORIGINAL TURBO and engine.
High maintenance? What a joke, change the oil regularly and they keep going, not even a timing belt to worry about!
Dependable they were and the motor itself was not needing a lot of maintenance. However, the Saab 9000 turbo, I owned was still expensive to maintain. It had a couple of electric and electronic gremlins, and the steering racks started to leak prematurely. (I have a couple of friends who owned a Saab, and all of them had to change the steering rack. The authorized dealer told me, this is a frequent problem). All this quickly racked-up the maintenance and repair costs. It was not built with easy and affordable maintenance in mind. Engine, transmission, no problems, great car, but not without flaws, and certainly not cheap to maintain and repair.
I was using Saab 9000 light turbo in Thailand , it s very reliable and low maintenance actually it’s very cheap compared to others European cars, also I never experienced Turbo problem at all for 20+ years, too bad they’ve already closed down.
Gotta love idiots who drive Honda and Toyota and assume all other cars are high maintenance. The thing is that you will see many more 25+ year old Saab’s and Volvo’s being driven daily than any Honda or Toyota.